This invention generally relates to methods and systems for processing chewing gum, and more specifically, to a method and system where a gum composition is extruded into a rope, and the rope is subsequently cut into small pieces, which are then wrapped.
Various large scale, mass production systems have been developed to form individually wrapped chewing gum pieces. With one conventional system, the chewing gum ingredients are mixed together in a kettle or similar device and cooked or baked to form loaves of chewing gum material. The loaves are then fed to an extruder, which extrudes a multitude of elongated ropes. These ropes are usually powdered to improve their workability, and cut into segments. The rope segments are then carried to a work station adjacent a wrapping machine and reconnected together to form a new continuous rope. The new rope is fed through a pre-sizer, which changes the vertical cross-sectional shape of the rope from circular to square, and then fed to the wrapping machine, which cuts the rope into small pieces and individually wraps each piece. While this procedure has proven to be very efficient and productive, it is believed that it can be improved upon in several respects.
For instance, the prior art system is relatively labor intensive in that it requires one worker to transport the rope segments from a first work area or station adjacent the extruder to a second work area or station adjacent the wrapping machine, and a second worker is normally required at the latter work station to reconnect the rope segments. This relatively large number of workers increases the cost of operating the system and the cost of producing the wrapped chewing gum pieces.